Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1887-03-04
MORTALS PLAYING THE FOOL.
THE REV. DR.. TALMAGE DEALS
uNSPARiNGLY WITH
MANKIND.
David's Pitiful Pretense of In
sanity Too Often Seen in
This World.
The Lord the Only Guide and Pilot in
Whom to Trust.

Whom to Trust.
BROOKLYN, N. Y, Feb 2o.-The opening
hymn at the Brooklyn tabernacle this morning,
sung BY the whole congregation, begins:
Safely through another week
God has brought way;
Letlus now bless ng seek
Waiting In His courts to-day.
Prof. Henry Eyre Brown, the organist, rem
dered Satz No. in & minor by Thiele After
running commentary on appropriate pas
sages OF scripture, the Rev. T. Dewitt Tai
mage, ID. d.. took for his text: .'And he
changed his behavior before them, and feigned
himself mad 10 their hands, and scrabbled on
the doors Of the gate, and let his spittle fall
down upon his 5eard.u-I Sam. xxi 10. He
said:
There is one scene In the life Of David that
you may not have pondcred You have seen
him with harp playing the devil out of Saul;
with sling, smashing the skull of Goliath;
with sword, hacking to pieces the Phlistlnes;
with scepter, ruling a vast realm; with a
psalm, gathering all nations into doxology;
but In my text you have David playing the
fool, He has been anointed king, yet he is
In exile and passing incognitio among the
Gathites. They begin to suspect who he Is.
and say: ~ wonder II this not the warrior
King Davidi IL looks like him. Is not this
the man about whom they used to make poetry,
and about whom they composed dance so
that the madens of the city, reeing now on
one foot and now on the other, used to sing:
Saul has slain his thousands, but David las
slain his tens Of thousandsP Yes, it is very
much Ike David. 1t must be David. 1t is
David"
DAVID FEIGNING INSANITY.
70 hsir ha nd de IN ha
demented. He said within himself: ''If act
crafty, then of course these people will not
injure me. No one would be so much of
coward to assault mailman" So, one day,
while the Gathitcs are watching David with
increased suspicion, they see him standing by
the door running his hands meaningless up
and down the understanding on the door
ms though he would climb up, his mouth wide
open, drooling like an infant. suppose the
boys OF the streets threw missiles at him; but
the sober people OF the town said. "This is
not fair Do you not see that he has lost his
reasoni Do not touch this mailman. Hands
offv' So David escaped; but what an exhibi-
ton he made OF himself before all the ages
There was majesty in King Lear's madness
after Regain and Goneril his daughters had
persuaded him to Danish their sister Cordelia,
and all the friends OF the drama have been
thrilled with that spectacular The craziness
OF Meg Meriilies was weird and imposing, and
the most telling passage In Walter Scotts
Guy Manneringn There was fascination
about the insanity of Alexander Cruden, who
made the best concordance Of the Bible that
the world ever saw-made it between the mad
houses Some time ago, while was visiting
tho insane asylum on Backwelrs island, de-
mented woman came up to me and said in
most tragic style:
G tI9s moves In mysterious way
He plants His footsteps In the sea
And rides upon the STORM
PLAYING THE IpIoTIo FOOL.
But there was nothing grand, nothing weird,
nothing majestic nothing sublime about this
stimulation on the part OF David. Instead of
trusting in the Lord as he had on other occa-
sions, he gathers before him Il vast audi
ence of all generations that were to come,
and standing on that conspicuous stage of
history, In the presence of all the ages, he i'm
personates the slavering idiotl And he
changes his behavior before Them and
feigned himself mad in their hands, aud
scrabbed at the door Of the gate, and let his
spittle fall upon his beard.n
Taking the behavior OF David as n sup-
gestion. wish to tell you how many of the
wise and the regal and the brave sometimes
play the fool. And in the first place, remark
that those men as badly play the fool as this
mon of the text who in any crisis of
life take their eases out of the hand
of God. David in this case acted
as though there were no God to lift
him out of the predicament. What contrast
between his behavior, when this brave little
height aud looking into his face, said: Thou
cometh TO me with sword, and with spear,
and with shield but come to thee in the
name of the Lord Of Hosts, the God of the
armies OF Israel, whom thou has defed. This
day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand
and VIII smite thee, and take thine head
from thee, and will give thee carcasses of the
hosts of the Philstines this day unto the
fowls Of the air, and TO the wild beasts OF the
earth, that all the earth may know that there
Is God in Israel !o--between that time and
this time, when he debased himself and be-
draggled his manhood, and affected insanity
that he might escape from the grip of the
Gathtes. In the one case he PLAYED the hero
In the other case he played the fool. So does
every man who In the great crisis of life takes
his case out Of the hand of God.
THE LORD THE ONLY GUIDE.
The life OF the most Insignificant man In tn
house is too vast for any human management.
One time, returning from the west, | very
easily got on the locomotive while passing
over the plains, and talked with the engineer
but, coming on toward the Allegheny noun
tans, thought | would Ike to sit on the To-
comotivc as it came down from the mountains
amid that most wonderful scenery on this
continent. ! asked the engineer If | might
ride, but he courteously den ed me- for there the
grade is SO steep and winding and SO perilous
that he must not have any one on the loco.
motive who may divert his attention when eve
and hand and foot and brain must be concen-
trated, ready for the most sudden emergency.
Wei, my friends, lie IL so steep and so per
ilous aud so exposed to sudden surprises that
none but the Lord Almighty can guide and
engineer 1t, and disasters come from the
fact that We want TO get up and help the Lord
to manage the train. Keep off the engine
BE willing to let God pull you where he wants
TO pull you. You have no right for an instant
10 surrender your sanity and manhood as
David surrennered his. Put your trust in GOO
and he will take YOU through and over .ht
mountains. very much suspect that all tn,
successful enterprises that were ever carried on
and all the successful lives that have ever beer
lived, have been fully surrendered to God
When the girl Victoria was awakened In tht
night and told that the throne of Great Britain
was hers, she said To the prelate informinl
her, II ask your prayers" and then and there
they knelt down and prayed. Do you wonder
that though since that time all the thrones o.
Europe have fallen or been fearfuy shaken
hers stands as firm the day she assembled it
and in every country under the sun, wherever
an Englishman hears that name pronounced
be feels like waving his hat and crying, Goo
save the queen!' That man and that woman
who put their trust In God will go through il
triumph, while those who attempt to gathe
under their own supervision the intricate an,
elaborate affairs Of their life are miserab,
playing the fool.
THE SHIP AND THE PILOT.
stood upon the beach looking oil upon tn
sea; and there was strong wind blowing
and noticed that some of the vessels were &C
ing that way and other vessels were going an
other way. l said to myself; 'sHow is it tina
the same wind sends one vessel in one drec
ton and another vessel in another direction.
| | found out, by looking, that it was the dill
fbax- bod t,., ia SAT nd